Manipulating Trust on Facebook

Ari Ezra Waldman, New York Law School

Abstract

Facebook is built on gathering massive amounts of information from its users. To maximize the data it collects, Facebook relies on the trust we have in our friends to encourage us to share even more, and it designs its platform to reflect and leverage trust. But this strategy also manipulate us into sharing personal information with websites, advertisers, and third party partners we’ve never met or heard of. When it does this, Facebook crosses a line from social space to manipulative force.